Monday, December 07, 2009

Report indicates that broadband adoption rates may be higher than previously throught

Broadband adoption rates might be as much as ten points higher than previously thought according to a new report from Broadband Census that uses geographical data to sort areas that don't currently have access to broadband from adoption counts. The report indicates that 72.9 percent of Americans with access to broadband are subscribers.

The report's methodology relies upon three sources of data - the FCC's Form 477 report, which indicates the number of broadband subscribers in each state, Census bureau population counts, and Gadberry Group's broadband service availability data. Broadband Census used the broadband availability data to determine the number census blocks that did not have access to broadband. Those census blocks without broadband access that contained households were eliminated from the adoption ratio - the number of households with broadband service divided by total households with access to broadband. Previous studies of broadband adoption rates have not precisely measured the number of households that don't currently have broadband access, which deflates the adoption rate.

This post on Broadband Census illustrates the methodology using the state of Arizona as a model, with a map that indicates areas of the state that are served by broadband, those that aren't served by broadband with households, and unpopulated areas that aren't served by broadband. It's a very interesting report that likely to challenge some of the conventional thinking about broadband adoption in this country.